Boston University
Vermont
Terriers Welcome Vermont To Cap Regular Season
February 22, 2018 | Men's Ice Hockey
| Boston University (16-13-3, 11-8-3 HEA) vs. Vermont (9-17-6, 6-11-5 HEA) | |
|---|---|
| Dates & Time | Friday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. & Saturday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m. |
| Venue | Agganis Arena | Boston, Mass. |
| Tickets | AgganisArena.com |
| Watch | TerrierTV: Friday | Saturday |
| Listen | TSRN |
| Live Stats | Sidearm Stats |
| Game Notes | BU | Vermont |
| Podcast | Inside BU Hockey |
| @BUGameDay | @TerrierHockey | |
The 2017-18 regular season draws to a close this weekend for the Boston University men's ice hockey team with plenty remaining on the table to be claimed. A first round bye in the Hockey East tournament and home ice advantage are there for BU's taking this weekend as the Terriers play host to Vermont for two games.
Face off at Agganis Arena is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday with tickets still available online at AgganisArena.com or at the door on game night.
The Terriers hold the fourth position in the league standings heading into this weekend. BU will assure itself of playing host to its best-of-three quarterfinal series March 9-11 by taking three points from the Catamounts, although scenarios exist where BU can still obtain its goal with two, one or even no points from the weekend.
Saturday is Senior Night for BU and for the Terrier seniors to make it 4-for-4 in their BU careers going to the NCAA Championships, that home ice will be helpful and a focal point for the Vermont games. That class of Brien Diffley, Brandon Hickey, John MacLeod, Drew Melanson, Nikolas Olsson and Chase Phelps, along with senior manager Ali McEachern, has been a solid one. They have gone 89-36-16 (.688) over their Terrier careers, highlighted by the 2015 Frozen Four, 2015-17 NCAAs, 2015 Beanpot, 2015 Hockey East tournament title and 2015 and 2017 Hockey East regular season championships.
On Saturday night, Barnes & Noble is giving away exclusive free BU reusable totes to the first 2,500 to arrive! Make sure you grab one in the main lobby before heading into the game. Also, stay in your seats when the second intermission begins for a special performance by the Boston University Pep Band.
The Terriers and Catamounts have played 78 times since the 1971-72 season, with BU holding a 46-24-8 (.641) advantage. BU is 12-4-1 in the past 17 meetings. The Terriers are 9-7-3 (.553) in the 19 meetings that have taken place at Agganis Arena. Since the Catamounts joined Hockey East in 2005, the teams have met 37 times and BU holds an 19-13-5 advantage in those contests.
Last year, BU and Vermont split a pair of games at Gutterson Fieldhouse. UVM won the opening game, 4-2, with BU's goals coming from Bobo Carpenter and Patrick Harper, both on the power play. BU won the Saturday night game, 4-0, behind a 28-save shutout from Jake Oettinger.
Vermont enters this weekend's games with a 9-17-6 mark on the year and 6-11-5 record in Hockey East play. UVM sits eighth in the league standings and hopes to remain at that line or better to ensure the right to play host to its first round series next weekend. The Catamounts are an even 2-2-2 over their last six contests, claiming a win and a tie against both Providence (Feb. 2-3) and New Hampshire (Feb. 9-10) before dropping a pair of contests last weekend at home against Northeastern.
Colton Ross tops UVM in scoring with both his 15 goals and 21 points. Eight of his 15 strikes have come on the power play. Alex Esposito has 19 points to rank second, keyed by a team-high-tying 10 assists. Stefanos Lekkas has played 1,769 of UVM's 1,961 minutes this season in goal and posted a 2.88 goals-against-average and .912 save percentage.
The Terriers are on home ice this weekend for just the second and third times since Jan. 20. The UMass game on Feb. 9 was BU's lone home contest out of an eight-game span. The last time BU played a stretch with seven out of eight regular season contests coming away from Agganis Arena was from Oct. 26-Nov. 17, 2007. Oddly though, the Terriers have been a far better team away from Agganis Arena in 2017-18. BU is 11-6-0 at road and neutral sites while compiling just a 5-6-3 mark at 925 Comm. Ave.
As for who is hot on the Terrier side, freshman Logan Cockerill and sophomore Dante Fabbro are both riding identical eight-game point scoring streaks into the Vermont weekend, recording at least one point per game since each were held off of the scoring ledger by Merrimack on Jan. 20. Cockerill has three goals and six assists for nine points over this span while Fabbro has two goals and nine assists for 11 points. These streaks are the longest such runs for any Terrier this season. They are the longest scoring streaks by BU since Clayton Keller ended last season on a 10-game run.
The weekend may also see a milestone for Terrier head coach David Quinn who boasts a career record of 99-67-20, leaving him one win shy of the century mark for victories at BU. Quinn will be the fourth BU head coach to reach the 100-win plateau, joining Jack Parker (897), Harry Cleverly (211) and Jack Kelley (206). BU will become just the third Hockey East school to have four coaches who have won 100 games at that institution at the Division I level, joining Northeastern (five) and Providence (four).
